Our Business

our business

First Derivatives (FD) is a software and services company with world-leading intellectual property in ultra-high-performance analytics (Kx) across industries, with extensive domain expertise and capabilities in capital markets systems and technology (managed services and consulting).

Kx technology addresses one of the largest and most demanding challenges in analytics, namely how to capture and analyse data to make real-time decisions in a world where data volumes generated by markets and machines are increasing exponentially, and existing technologies fail due to technological or commercial limitations.

Kx is widely adopted throughout the financial industry, at banks, hedge funds and exchanges, where it is employed across a range of data-intensive arenas, from high-frequency trading to regulatory compliance.
Kx also powers our MRP Prelytix digital marketing platform, enabling subscribers to identify and engage with potential customers earlier and more effectively, using predictive analytics. With this pedigree, Kx is expanding into other industries, such as manufacturing, automotive and energy, which are challenged by the increase in data and the need to make rapid, informed operational decisions.

Managed Services and Consulting

FD provides a range of services worldwide to its clients in the capital markets sector, focused on supporting mission-critical systems as well as helping them to achieve and maintain regulatory compliance. These services can be delivered by operating either from the client site or on a near-shore basis (or adopting a hybrid approach).

Clients include many of the world’s leading banks with FD supporting their activities across a range of operations including credit, interest rate, foreign exchange, equity, cash and derivatives markets. For more than 20 years FD has built a reputation for client-centric delivery that has enabled consistent growth from a growing base of repeat revenue.

Kx STREAMING ANALYTICS –
SIMPLEST, FASTEST, GREENEST

As well as its world-leading performance, Kx also stands out for the fact that it provides a single integrated platform to efficiently analyse vast streaming and historical datasets in real time. Deployable from chip to edge to cloud, the Kx platform is helping disrupt industries by providing immense analytic power on a smaller and lower energy-consuming footprint than competing solutions.
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EXPERTISE AND KNOWLEDGE

We recruit and train our own domain and technical experts through our award-winning training programmes. Our foundations are rooted in academic excellence, entrepreneurship, customer centricity, agility and teamwork.

Combined with a constant challenge to embrace responsibility and grow, supported by training and a career framework, delivers a highly skilled and motivated workforce that drives our growth and changes the same for our customers.

STRONG MARKET POSITION

The Group provides a suite of software products and services to its clients in the capital markets sector across the world.

Kx was initially developed for the capture and analysis of market data. In recent years the Group has launched a broad range of capital markets applications, including market and trading surveillance, pre-trade decision making, post-trade reporting and liquidity management.
In addition to new sales prospects and the potential to develop new applications, there are considerable cross and upselling opportunities within our existing customer base.

In managed services and consulting, the Group provides a suite of services to its global client base in the capital markets sector, focused on supporting mission-critical systems as well as helping them to achieve and maintain regulatory compliance. As the Group scales, there is considerable scope for further growth in capital markets.

Although financial services will remain the dominant client sector in the medium term, the Group increasingly sees opportunities for its Kx technology, and applications built on the platform, in new markets outside finance.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH

The Group’s strategy seeks continued growth across its software and services operations. The Group has identified digital marketing (MarTech), automotive, energy and manufacturing as markets that are particularly attractive. It has therefore invested in sales, engineering and R&D to target these markets, as well as forming partnerships to accelerate its growth.

Digital Marketing

Manufacturing

Energy

Automotive